The Chocolate Bunnies
by greekgirl317
Summary: Travis always played pranks on the Demeter cabin to get Katie's attention. One day, a harmless prank takes a turn for the worse. It turns out; chocolate Easter bunnies can cause more destruction that Travis ever thought.
1. The Prank

This story has been in my head for a _long_ time, and it wouldn't let me work on my other story, so I wrote it down.

I hope you like it.

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Chapter 1: The Prank

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Travis's POV

I hurried towards the pavilion, the bitter wind chilling me through my dark jacket. I pulled the cords on my hood and ducked my head, trying to escape the cold. My shoes were already completely soaked from the wet grass.

When Connor and I had been planning this, we hadn't been expecting it to rain the _whole_ _day._

_It's summer,_ I thought. _Why is it so cold?_

I looked up and saw the familiar shadow of my brother sitting on the pavilion steps. I raised my hand and waved to get his attention, and Connor waved back. When I finally reached him, Connor had already pulled out the duffel bags we had left there behind a bush the night before.

"Dude," Connor whispered when he looked up and saw me. He held up the duffle bags. "We are _so_ lucky these are waterproof."

"I know," I agreed.

Most fathers give their son a signed baseball cap, or a ticket to a game for their birthday. On the morning of my birthday, I found two waterproof duffel bags at the end of my bed, with a note taped on one of them that said: _use it wisely_. I hadn't found a use for them until now.

A strong gust of wind suddenly blew my jacket open, and I shivered.

I looked up at the clouds above us—it looked like it was going to rain again. A sudden thought came to me—it wasn't _supposed_ to rain in Camp Half-Blood at all, unless the gods were angry—Zeus in particular. That didn't make me feel any better.

"Connor, I don't think this is a good idea," I whispered to my brother.

Connor stopped going through the duffel bags, and looked up at me, surprise and disbelief written on his face. "You're kidding, right? This was _your_ idea," He told me, crossing his arms.

"I know," I said impatiently. "But come on, Connor—it isn't supposed to rain here! Do you really want to mess with the Demeter cabin right now when their mother is probably already—?"

Connor held up his hand to stop me and shook his head. "You think Demeter did this?" He gestured at the sky. "It's most likely Zeus having a temper tantrum."

I looked up at the clouds. Usually, when someone insults the Lord of the Sky, their lives end pretty quickly.

"Well, you want to get Katie's attention, don't you?" Connor added.

I clamped my mouth shut as I felt my cheeks grow red. It was true, even though I denied it around the other campers. The only person that knew that I really did have a crush on Katie was my brother, Connor—well, the only person I would admit it to, anyway.

Connor was the only one that knew the real reason why we always pranked the Demeter cabin the most. Not because I thought it was funny, but because it was the only way that I could get Katie's attention.

"Yeah, but do you _really _think this'll work?" I asked, motioning to the duffle bags.

I was starting to regret ever coming up with this prank. A few weeks ago, it seemed like a great idea. Now, it looked impossible, and I was starting to see everything that could go wrong.

"Hey, first of all, this was your idea in the first place," He pointed out, irritation seeping into his voice.

"But—"

"And second, we already went over this, we'll be fine." He reassured me.

He picked up one of the duffel bags and tossed it at me before I could protest. I caught it with a groan.

Who knew that thirty chocolate Easter bunnies could weigh so much?

My brother was usually a pretty easy going guy, and he was already annoyed, so I knew that it wouldn't be good for my health if I pushed the issue. I sighed and pushed the strap of the duffel bag onto my shoulder.

"Okay, let's go," I told him.

* * *

*TCB*

Fifteen minutes later, Connor and I were crouched behind the Demeter cabin.

"Okay, we're here, what's the plan again?" Connor questioned, turning to look at me with some difficulty, since the heavy bag on his shoulder was throwing off his balance.

"Dude!" I whispered back, shaking my head. "How many times do we have to go over it? It has three steps! _Three steps!_"

"I'm just checking," Connor held up his hands. "Plus, you were the one that was so eager to do this last week when we were planning it."

I rolled my eyes. _Why did he have to keep bringing that up?_ "We use the vines on the side of the cabin to climb onto the roof…" I started.

"Then we put the chocolate bunnies on the roof…" Connor continued.

"And then get back to our cabin without making a sound," I finished. "Was all that really necessary?"

"Yep," Connor told me with a smirk. Then he grabbed the vines above our heads and started to climb. I followed him with a sigh.

The only thing harder than carrying thirty chocolate bunnies up a makeshift ladder made of vines is trying to make them stand upright on a foot-thick grass roof.

"Oh, come on," Connor grumbled, as the bunny he was trying to put in the grass fell over for the tenth time.

Another thing about my brother: he's easygoing, but he has absolutely no patience whatsoever. It's the same with most of us demigods—because of our ADHD, we can't concentrate on one thing for too long, especially my brother. I always wondered how Athena kids can have the patience to plan out all the projects that they do. If my brother tried that, he would probably lose it.

I looked over at Connor, and grabbed his wrist to stop his over-aggressive attempt to keep the chocolate bunny standing. After a few minutes, we finally figured how to keep it up, and by the time we were done covering the roof with the rest of them, the sun was just starting to rise.

I nudged my brother's shoulder. "We need to go," I whispered frantically.

* * *

*TCB*

"Aw man," Connor sighed, when we were back in our own cabin.

I dropped my duffel bag on the floor and turned to look at my brother. "What?" I asked. "Did you leave something behind?"

He shook his head. "Na, nothing like that. It's just—we didn't even get to admire our handiwork."

I smiled and shook my head. "We can admire our handiwork tomorrow, and see everyone's reaction to it then."

Connor threw himself onto his bed, and buried his head in the pillow. "I never want to see another one of those _things_ again." He groaned, his voice muffled.

"What? A chocolate rabbit?" I asked shocked. My brother loved chocolate. I sat down on my bed, facing him. "It's chocolate! How could you say that you never want to see chocolate again?"

Connor turned his head towards me. "No, there's other types of chocolate, I just meant that I never want to see chocolate _shaped_ like that again."

I laughed. "I'll make sure that everyone in our cabin gives you a chocolate rabbit for Easter then."

"The thing is, I know you're not kidding." Connor groaned. "I hate you."

I laughed, leaning back on my pillow. "I know you do." I told him. I was silent for a moment before I realized something. "Hey Connor?"

He looked at me, his eyes half closed with sleep. "Yeah?"

"Do you think this'll get Katie's attention?" I asked, looking at the ceiling.

"Dude," Connor lifted himself up with his elbow. "If this doesn't get her attention, nothing will."

I didn't say anything. My eyes were heavy with sleep, and I could already hear my brother's loud snoring. _I just hope he's right,_ I thought, before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

*TCB*

The next morning, I woke to loud talking and yelling. At first, I thought two of my siblings were fighting, then I realized the voices were coming from outside. That could only mean…

"Dude," I heard Connor whisper. "It worked."

I threw myself off my bed and started towards the door, Connor following right behind me. I was barely halfway to the door, when it flung open. Katie was standing in the doorway, hands at her hips, scowling at me. Chiron was right behind her, and he didn't look happy either.

"Travis," Katie said slowly, in a voice that made me back up, right into Connor. "Why is there over fifty chocolate Easter bunnies on my cabin roof?"

_Uh, oh._

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So, that was the first chapter of my first Tratie story. I think it's good, much better than the first chapter on my first story.

I would appreciate it if you let me know what you think, it helps me improve my writing. Thanks for reading.


	2. The Aftermath

Sorry about the long wait guys, but I just haven't had time to work on this lately. Today's the last day of summer break for me, so I just had to put this chapter up today.

If anyone is confused, this takes place sometime between BoTL and TLO.

Thanks to all the wonderful people who reviewed, put it on their favorites, and are following my story. Thanks to: Epicness by Liv, Rebellsong7, minimonster12345, and Lmb111514 for reviewing. Thank you!

Now, on with the story.

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Chapter 2: The Aftermath

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Travis's POV

The only thing that had stopped Katie from strangling me to death was Chiron, but the lecture he had given us afterwards almost made me wish Katie had killed me. _Almost._

He gave me and Connor five weeks of cleaning duty, and made us take the chocolate bunnies down from the roof of the Demeter cabin in front of the whole camp. This would have been an easy thing to do, if it hadn't been for the fact that the chocolate bunnies had melted into the grass.

So, almost four hours later, Connor and I hiked back to our cabin, covered in grass stains, bug bites, sweat, and melted chocolate.

The cabin was empty—everyone else was at the pavilion eating lunch. I wanted to go eat lunch with the rest of my cabin, have them clap me on the back, and congratulate me on a job well done.

Only it wasn't a job well done. Sure, I had gotten Katie's attention and all, but it wasn't the type of attention that I wanted. She had noticed me, but by the looks that she gave me as I washed chocolate off her cabin roof, she wasn't going to be sharing a moonlit stroll on the beach with _me_ anytime soon.

I sunk down on my bed, put my face in my hands, and groaned.

"Well if it makes you feel any better, you _did_ get Katie's attention," Connor pointed out, sitting down next to me.

"Yeah," I laughed humorlessly. "Just not the attention I wanted."

"Maybe if we just explain why we did it…" Connor trailed off when he saw the look on my face.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, _yeah,_ that'll go down _good_." I told him, sarcasm in my voice. I got up and pretended to walk over to Katie. " 'Hey Katie, the only reason I put chocolate bunnies on your roof was because I have a crush on you, so I thought that playing pranks on you would get your attention, and you'd realize how much you like me and agree to go out with me.' "

"Dude," Connor looked at me. "Did you really think that that was going to happen?"

"Yeah, a week ago," I admitted, crossing my arms. I glared at him. "But _nobody _told me that it was hopeless, so I just kept hoping it would work."

Connor held up his hands. "Well I didn't know you were_ that_ desperate." He defended.

"You're my brother, you're supposed to know these things. _And_ you knew why I always pranked her, so why didn't you stop me?" I asked him.

Connor shrugged. "Well, hey, I thought you were just trying to get her attention, that's all," He told me. "I knew you wanted to ask her out, but I didn't know that this was the way you were planning on doing it. Usually, when you want to ask someone out, you aim low. You know, give them flowers first, or something like that."

I blinked in surprise, and uncrossed my arms. "Since when did _you_ become the expert on dating?" I asked.

Surprisingly, he blushed. "We sit across from the Aphrodite cabin, and it's not like they whisper or anything." He explained, scratching the back of his head.

"You picked up dating advice from the Aphrodite cabin?" I said, trying not to laugh.

Connor's face was bright red in embarrassment. "Yeah," He said, then suddenly dropped his hand and looked up at me, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

_Uh, oh._ I thought, because the look that he had on his face was the one he usually has when he's planning a prank. I looked at my brother warily. "What?" I asked.

Connor's smile grew. "I have an idea…"

* * *

*TCB*

"This is a _terrible_ idea," I told Connor.

We were sitting in the Aphrodite cabin, surrounded by bright blue, green, and pink…well, everything. It felt like I was sitting in a little girl's doll house.

"It was the best I could think of," Connor shrugged sheepishly.

I rolled my eyes, and glared at my brother. "Well, no offense, but your best sucks."

"It seemed like a good idea, and I just wanted to help," He sighed.

"That's also what I thought about the prank on the Demeter cabin a few weeks ago, and look how _that_ ended." I pointed out.

"This is different though," Connor argued.

I shook my head hopelessly. "No, it's not. How will a child of Aphrodite help me? How will they help me dig myself out of the hole I already buried myself in, huh? What good will it do me now?"

"Well, it can't hurt to at least try," Connor said. "And besides, you can't mess up more than you already have, right?"

I scowled at my brother. I was doing that a lot today. "Thanks, that makes me feel so much better." I said sarcastically.

"No problem." He smirked.

I looked down, rubbing at my eyes. The designer perfume in the air was so strong, it was making my eyes water.

"I was wondering when I would see you in here." I heard someone say. "Boy, you really messed up, didn't you?" I looked up—it was Mitchell, son of Aphrodite. Silena Beauregard was right behind him, shaking her head.

"Yeah, you can say that," I mumbled. The Aphrodite cabin had come in from lunch now, and they were all copying Silena—looking at me and shaking their heads. Somehow, it didn't surprise me that they knew what was going on.

Mitchell grabbed a stool and sat down in front of me and Connor. "You know, you should have come to us first. Would've saved you from all that." He pointed out the window to the Big House.

"Yeah, _I know_." I gritted my teeth. I didn't need _him_ to tell me the obvious—I had my brother for that.

Mitchell made a 'shooing' motion at his siblings. They all got up and moved towards the door like he had pushed them. Silena was the last one out.

"Rule number one: to capture a girl's attention, you give the girl chocolates, or flowers, or both," Mitchell started. I glanced at my brother. "And no, putting chocolate Easter bunnies on her cabin roof doesn't count." He added, looked at me with his eyebrows raised.

"I get it, I know that now. Don't tell me what I already know!" I snapped. "If you're not going to help me, then just forget it. You can't me help anyway—I don't even know why I'm here," I started to get up, but Mitchell held up his hand up to stop me.

"I _am_ going to help you, I mean, I'll try my best," He assured me. "But you're going to have to work with me, even though I can tell you don't want to."

* * *

*TCB*

Two hours later, Connor and I were in the Big House kitchen washing dishes in a sink full of lava.

The weirdest thing was, even though I would have kitchen patrol for a month, I felt optimistic. I mean—it's not like I was looking forward to scrubbing dishes for a whole month, but Mitchell had had some pretty good ideas.

I used to think that all the Aphrodite kids did was gossip and do their hair, but now I was starting to think that I had underestimated them. Everyone underestimated them, I realized, but maybe that was what they wanted.

"Hey, Travis!" Someone called my name, making me jump and drop the plate that I had been holding. It shattered when it hit the floor.

I looked up. It was Michael Yew from the Apollo cabin. "What?" I asked, a little more sharply than I had intended.

He winced, and bent down next to me to pick up the broken plate. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I just didn't know you guys would have kitchen duty today, that's all."

"Chiron thought it would be a good punishment," Connor told him. Then he added, "But we get cleaning and trash duty along with this tomorrow, so I guess we'll just have to enjoy just this while it lasts."

Michael laughed.

"What did you do to end up here?" I asked him as he got up.

"It was the Apollo cabin's turn for cleaning duty, and we got the lowest score on the inspection." He told me, dumping the remnants of the plate in the trashcan.

I raised my eyebrows. It was usually my cabin who came in last on inspection. Mostly because we had the most demigods—most of them weren't even children of Hermes—and because my siblings liked to use the space under their beds as their own personal trashcan.

Michael saw my expression and grinned. "Yeah, it's usually you guys who are the worst."

"Not all the time," Connor defended.

Michael's grin grew. "So, your prank didn't go too well last night, huh?" He asked. "You should have heard Katie," He laughed, then looked serious. "I don't think you should go up to the pavilion anytime soon to eat, she might kill you. In fact, the whole Demeter cabin might kill you. I could tell one of your brothers to bring you food or something."

"Yeah, thanks," I told him, turning back to wash the dishes. The happy, hopeful bubble that had been growing inside my chest since the visit to the Aphrodite cabin had burst.

As soon as he left, Connor nudged me with his elbow. "Hey, it'll work out," He reassured me. I gave him a look. "_It will_, but I think you should give her a few days to calm down before you try to apologize." Then he grinned. "That way, it'll be less likely that we'll have to make you a shroud."

* * *

*TCB*

I sat down on my bed and laid back, closing my eyes. Boy, it had been a _long_ day.

I thought back to what Connor had said earlier, and my little bubble of hope started to come back. Maybe he was right, maybe there was still a chance that I could get Katie to forgive me.

I had to be patient, though. I had to give it time and maybe, just maybe, it would work this time. Until then, I just had to wait and see.

* * *

So, that was longer than the last chapter, but not much. If anyone is still confused, this takes place sometime between BoTL and TLO, so Michael Yew and Silena Beauregard are still alive, and Mitchell is from the Lost Hero.

Please let me know what you thought, and thanks for reading! :)


	3. Words are Weapons

Sorry for the long wait, again. Yeah, I'm really bad at updating, I know. I just haven't really made time to sit down and work on this. I even had fall break to work on it, so I don't have any excuses.

A big thank you to: Epicness by Liv, Lmb111514, catsrawesome, and ChocolateSodaPop for reviewing! And to the people who also favorited/followed this story, a thank you to you too! :)

Now, on to the story!

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Chapter 3: Words are Weapons

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Travis's POV

I opened my eyes slowly. Sunlight was shining brightly through the window between me and my brother's bed.

I sat up, rubbing my eyes, and groaned when I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder. I had washed more than a hundred dishes yesterday, and I was starting to feel the effects of it. _And five more weeks of this to go,_ I thought. _Joy._

"Dude," I heard Connor groan into his pillow. "I feel like I've been hit by a truck."

"I know," I told him, rubbing at the knot in my arm, trying to get the painful, tingling feeling to go away.

I turned away from him, and nearly jumped out of the bed in fear. Michael was standing at the foot of my bed. "Dude! Don't _do_ that!" I shouted. "How long have you been there?"

He flashed me a bright white smile—which made me want to kick him—and shrugged. "Only for a few minutes. I brought you breakfast," He told me, holding out a large plate full of food.

I was too hungry to complain. "Thanks," I said, my mouth watering.

It was kind of ironic, really. Not even a week before, I was doing everything possible to be closer to Katie. Sometimes, I even traded cleaning duties and privileges with other cabins just so my cabin would have the same classes as hers.

Now, I was trying to do the exact opposite. I didn't really have a choice though—it was either stay away from her, or get killed. And since I valued my life, I chose to stay away.

"You would make a great stalker," Connor told Michael. In retaliation, he threw a breakfast roll at Connor's head. It bounced off, rolled under Connor's bed, and Connor dove after it. "Five second rule!" he shouted.

Michael rolled his eyes. "Ugh," He groaned. "That's _disgusting!_"

I laughed and shook my head. He looked at me, confused. "This is Connor you're talking about. That's _normal_ for him," I told him.

Michael opened his mouth as if to say something, closed it, shrugged in defeat, and sat down on my bed. "You have a point." He admitted.

Connor stood up, the muffin in his hand. He frowned at us. "Hey! I'm not disgusting, just conservative. Why let perfectly good food go to waste when you could eat it?" He smirked, before biting into it to prove his point.

I rolled my eyes and smirked. "Okay, but when you get sick because of it, I'm not gonna help you. I'll leave that to the healers," I told him, jabbing my thumb at Michael.

"Thanks," Michael said sarcastically.

"No problem."

Connor frowned at me, his muffin now forgotten. "What makes you think that I'll get sick?" He asked.

"Dude, have you _seen_ the underside of your bed?" I raised my eyebrows.

Before he could say anything back, Michael held up his hands to stop us. "Guys, as entertaining as it is to make fun of Connor—"

"Hey!"

Michael's lips twitched up slightly, but he continued as if Connor hadn't said anything. "The real reason I came here is that we need to figure out what Travis is going to do. It may seem like a good idea to just avoid Katie now, but Chiron is changing the class schedules in a few days, which means it's very likely that you'll end up in the same group as hers."

My carefree mood was immediately replaced with the feeling of a dead weight in the middle of my stomach. Suddenly, I wasn't hungry anymore. I pushed the plate of food away from me.

When Connor and I had come back from the kitchen last night, our siblings had crowded around us asking questions. Usually, I would have welcomed all the attention, I would have loved for it to be talked about for weeks to come, like it usually did. But I didn't want be reminded of my "success," because really, it was far from one. I just wanted to put it in the past and try to fix the mess that it had made.

That wasn't possible now.

Michael looked at me out of the corner of his eye, saw my expression, and grimaced. "Sorry, it's just—"

I held up a hand to stop him. "It's fine," I sighed. "It's not like I can just act like it never happened. I need to figure out what to do."

He looked thoughtful. "I was thinking that you could just apologize. If you're really sincere about it, she might take you seriously."

Connor snorted. "Yeah, _if_ she takes us seriously. And if she doesn't, then we'll have to run like Hades is after us."

We were all silent as we realized the truth in that statement.

It was Connor who finally broke the silence. "Well, we have to do _something_," he pointed out, suddenly serious. Then he turned to me. "You could just avoid her, you know, keep your head down at the classes and not draw attention to yourself. And if she does notice you, I think Michael's idea is the only option left."

"That doesn't make me feel any better." I told him, stuffing my hands in my pockets.

"I know, but it's the best chance you have."

_If that's the best chance I have to get Katie not to hate me,_ I thought, _then I'm doomed._

* * *

*TCB*

I could feel the early morning sun burning my eyelids as I laid back on my bed, but I didn't care. The pain it caused couldn't possibly be worse than the dread that had twisted my stomach into knots.

Michael had been right—Chiron had changed the schedules. And of course with my luck, he had also been right about me and Katie having the same classes. I had spent the last four days going over all the different scenarios in my head that could happen when I saw Katie again. Nearly all of them ending with me dead or in the hospital.

Today had come way too fast.

I opened my eyes slowly, and groaned as my vision turned white. _I have to ask Chiron for a better shade for that window,_ I thought, rubbing at my eyes, annoyed. _So I'm not blinded every time I wake up._

When I finally adjusted to the brightness, I looked around and with a jolt realized I was the only one there. Not even Connor was there anymore. My sisters and brothers _never_ woke up early, unless…

I glanced at the clock, and bolted out of bed. I was five minutes late! _I'm gonna kill him,_ I thought. How many times had Connor overslept and I woke him up so he wouldn't be late? More than I could remember.

Muttering curses under my breath at him, I pulled my clothes on quickly, and raced towards the gardens.

When I got there, Chiron was standing in the middle of the garden, facing away from me, so maybe he wouldn't notice me. I walked into the crowd casually, trying to blend in with the others.

Of course, it didn't work. "Now, once you have done that, you can—ah Travis, you've finally joined us." Chiron glanced at me, frowning. He didn't look mad, just disappointed.

I looked down, not meeting his eyes. I had already gotten in trouble for the chocolate bunnies, and now I couldn't even bother to get to his class on time. I had let him down. I hated disappointing him. He expected us to do our best—he wanted us to do our best—and if we didn't, he would give us that sad look. I would've rather had him be angry at me.

Chiron sighed and walked up to me. "I will give you a warning for now. But please, Travis, try to be on time from now on."

I still didn't look directly at him as I nodded. "Yes sir."

He stood there for a while, then I sensed instead of saw him nod his head. When he finally walked away, I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding.

"Man that was close, I thought you were gonna to get in trouble for a second there." Connor let out a low whistle from next to me, startling me. When did he get there?

"Yeah, I would've been here on time if _someone_ had woken me up." I glared at him.

Connor's eyes widened, and he held up his hands. "I thought you needed the sleep, so I set the alarm clock. It didn't work?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, I just decided to be late. 'Cause it's not like I'm in trouble already," I said sarcastically.

I heard Michael snicker from where he was sitting a few feet away in the tomato patch, watching us. He waved at us to join him, and we did.

Connor shot him a look when we knelt next to him. "You're not supposed to take his side!"

Michael handed us both packets of seed. "Then what side am I supposed to take?" He asked Connor, smiling.

I rolled my eyes, ignoring Connor's reply, and looked over his head. My eyes landed on Katie.

She was on the other side of the garden with her siblings, smiling and laughing. She looked so carefree and happy with them, and I wished that one day she could be that carefree and happy when she was around me. I wished that I could make her smile like that.

I knew that no matter how long I was going to avoid her I could never forget the way her wavy brown hair always fell over her right shoulder, how her soft brown eyes twinkled when she laughed and the little dimples that showed only when she smiled.

I also couldn't forget the fact that she was walking towards me now, her brown eyes narrowed, with a gardening spade in her hand.

* * *

*TCB*

I did what any smart person would do in that situation: I ran.

As I passed the others on the way out of the gate, I heard them call out to me: "Oh, man! Dead man walking!" or "We'll make a shroud for you!" One of them even called out: "Run, Forest, run!"

If I was in any other situation, I would have turned around. I would have been mad. But when your options are either: A) turn around and get killed by a very angry girl armed with gardening tools, or B) to keep running, you'd keep running too.

If it hadn't been for the fact that I had been on kitchen duty for the last few days, I could've outran her. Instead five minutes later, as I reached the field where the cabins were, a sudden pain surged through my whole body, starting at my shoulders. The pain was so strong, it cut off my breathing completely and I fell to my knees.

It was not long after that that I heard footsteps approaching me. I knew it was Katie. "Please, I'm sorry," I whimpered, gasping for a breath. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I didn't know how much she had heard, but I hoped she would hear me out.

I looked up. I couldn't see Katie clearly through the black spots that danced in front of my eyes, but I could just see her outline, standing a few feet in front of me. She didn't say anything, and she didn't make any move to hit me as I recovered from the pain. I didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.

I stumbled to my feet and finally looked directly at Katie. Her head was down, and her hair covered her eyes so I couldn't see her expression. There was streaks of dirt on her left cheek and her shirt, but it didn't make her look bad. Actually, it was quite the opposite.

To me, it showed that she didn't care what other people thought about her and that she only wanted to be herself, her true self. She didn't want to hide who she was from others, she wanted to embrace it, not hide under makeup or a false identity. That's what I liked most about her: how comfortable she was with herself.

That's when I realized that I had been staring at her for too long.

Katie crossed her arms defensively and glared at me. "What? What are you looking at? Some way to pull another prank on me? Don't even try Travis, because I'm sick of your tricks!" There was something in the tone of her voice that left me at a loss for words. Was she..._crying?_

Katie looked up at me, with red eyes and tears streaming down her cheeks.

That's when the true impact of my prank hit me. I had thought that I could just apologize to her after a few days, and that she would just forgive me. I had underestimated how it would affect her. This had crossed the line. I had really done it this time.

_Oh, gods. What have I done? _I thought, my eyes widening in horror. _What have I done?_

"Katie, I'm so sorry, I—"

"What is it with you? Why do you do this all the time, huh?" Katie's voice broke as she looked at me with glassy eyes. "Why do you hate me so much? What have I ever done to you? All I have ever been is nice to you, or—or at least tried to be. And in return, all you are is hateful to me!"

I flinched, like I had been slapped. In fact, I would've liked to have been slapped instead. The words that she had just said were so much worse than a slap.

"K-Katie," I stuttered, trying to find words. "That's not why I did those things! It's, it's—"

"Oh, really?" Katie wiped angrily at her eyes. "If the reason isn't that you hate me, then what is it?"

I was at a loss for words. What was I supposed to say, that I did it because I was trying to get her attention, that I had a crush on her? She wouldn't believe me.

Katie took my silence as an answer. She rolled her eyes and let out a shaky laugh. "You know, I don't even know why I'm crying. I shouldn't be surprised, really. Do you ever think of anyone besides yourself? Do you ever think about how others feel when you prank them, or do you just point and laugh? Do you ever think about how _I _feel?"

I had to try to explain it to her. I reached out and touched her shoulder as she turned to walk away. "No Katie, please wait—"

Katie recoiled from my touch as if I were poison. "Leave me alone, Travis. I don't want to be around someone as selfish as you. I thought maybe you were different—that you could change—but here you are, just trying to save yourself again. Apparently I was wrong."

With that, she turned around and walked away. This time, I didn't try to stop her. I just stood there and watched as she walked the rest of the way to her cabin and slammed the door behind her, not looking back once.

* * *

*TCB*

I sighed as my head hit the pillow. It was after midnight, but I had no intention of going to sleep. The thoughts running through my head were keeping me wide awake.

Katie thought I hated her, which was the complete opposite of how I truly felt. Did she really mean what she had said, or was she just angry? Was that all she saw me as—a bully, someone who pranked people just for the fun at laughing at them? What if that was all I was?

I rolled over on my back and stared at the ceiling. I mean, I had a purpose to prank the Demeter cabin, but what about all the other people that I had ever pulled a prank on? Didn't I laugh, didn't I talk about them with my sisters and brothers? Did _they _see me as a bully?

I groaned loudly into my pillow. Whoever said that words couldn't hurt had no idea what they were talking about.

All I knew for sure was that I had really messed up, even more than I thought I had. Everything Michael, Connor, and the Aphrodite kids had told me definitely wasn't going to work now. There was no way I was going to get her to forgive me with what they told me to do. The only thing I could do now was to do nothing at all.

It would take a long time, and I would have to be patient, but if it got Katie to like me, then I would do it. No matter how it long it took.

* * *

Sorry again for disappearing for almost three months, but life got in the way.

Anyway, I just realized that I might need to change the rating to T in later chapters because it's going to include the Titan War. I mean, I'm not going to have graphic details or anything, but it's just a fair warning.

If you have time, please let me know what you thought of this chapter. Thanks for reading!


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